Those were covid days when we
moved to Hyderabad. Almost all offices were following work from home
discipline. Few people were enjoying working remote from their home towns and
some other places.
Alike others me and my wife
were working from home only. But we used to drive often to nearby places to
shop and eat out sometime. Those were the days when roads looked pretty empty
and spacious. There was no traffic jam and we felt like Hyderabad might be the
city free from traffic jams and road congestions.
Slowly, few months’ later
hybrid work culture started and people were back to their normal office going
routine. Though, it was not that a whole population of the city was travelling
to office. Nevertheless roads of Hyderabad started showing its true colors.
Whenever I used to drive to office or anywhere else for some errand, the
situation was getting worse day by day.
Travel time has almost doubled
for the same distance journey. It was getting pathetic. In middle of this
traffic situation there were long waiting at all traffic signals on the way to
office.
One of those traffic signals
had waiting time of five minutes. It was right in middle of the IT city where
mostly IT companies are situated. Besides delays due to those long traffic
signals that spot had become a temporary shelter for few homeless and beggars.
And these kinds of traffic signals are boon for those people living on other’s
favor. Few of them used to sell balloons; pens and other were who used to beg
by virtue of some kind of physical disability of them. And those were not only
adults but there were kinds also begging along with them.
One of them stopped near to my
car and started begging. He signaled he was deaf and dumb. Generally I ignore
such people if he looks quite capable of earning if he could instead of
begging. But looking at those physically challenged people I used to become
little compassionate and charitable sometimes. But that was rare too. Therefore
for that particular moment and looking at the beggar's misery I pulled my
walled out of the dashboard and handed a fifty rupee note to him. This all
happened in a flow of emotions in few seconds. That beggar moved ahead and I
pressed my accelerator to cross the signal.
Right there, on a second
thought I felt what I did was not just right. Although I used to show such
mercy on such people rarely but still that thought of giving a fifty rupees
note? Jot just five or ten rupees, it was a handsome amount of rupee to buy me
a onetime tea and snacks or a meal for myself. I regretted for the action I did
few minutes back.
I recalled those days few years
back when I had started working my first company where my first pay was like a
kind of stipend only. Those fifty rupees was my wages for two hours a day. And
there I just showered some mercy on that beggar and gave him a full fifty
rupees note for free just flowing into an emotion for a while.
Those homeless might be beggars
for year but why those people were still there? That is our mercy which is
making them paralyzed. Few of those looked physically fit but still they chose
to beg instead of working hard and earning their daily bread. That was what
made me restless. What I had done was just another addiction to make somebody
paralyzed of not choosing to work.
For those who can earn ‘”To
ignore them is to bliss them”. And for those who cannot ear and beg to full
their stomach is another open question for the society.
After that day I ignored those
beggars and there was some another day when I saw something different happened
over same traffic signal.
There was one elder person
looked aged above sixty, well dressed in his white creased shirt and black
trouser. He wore a metallic strap watch similar to our grandfather used to
wear. He was carrying something in his plastic cover bag in his hands. He was
wearing black shoes. All in all he reflected the image of a middle class old
man.
I was sitting in my car with
car engine switched off and car radio was tuned in playing some kind of Telegu
music.
I was that so looked educated
old man asking for money from a motorcyclist in front of me. I could hear a bit
of the conversation happening there. The motorcyclist denied to help him and
there what he did was shocking. That frustrated old man started pulling his
tucked shirt upwards till his chest and started showing some kind of medical
bandages on his stomach and shouting like ‘Medical emergency, medical
emergency;. Who knows it was for real or some excused to get some free money?
It could be genuine that he
might have some medical situation and might need some financial assistance for
his treatment but the question is how far it is justified to ask in middle of
such traffic signals standing with other beggars? Was that the right approach
that old man was following to get some quick cash?
I was just observing that
situation and in another minute that old man started moving towards me
expecting some cash from me this time.
Not to ignore such educated
middle class old man, I pulled the window glass down and he started begging
again ‘medical emergency, help … help” something like this.
Not to let him go empty hand I
pulled my walled and handed same fifty rupees to the old man. He looked at me
like what was that fifty rupees for? He felt insulting for himself for such
small amount what I tried to give him. He repeated ‘medical emergency, help”
with more frustration and anger this time.
While I abstained myself to pay
him more his actions turned misbehaving. Later what he did was left me clueless
what to do then? I shut my window glass again.
